Chapter 15

Okay, quick message to go at the top here, so please read if you're currently following the story.

I understand that I haven't updated in ages but to make a long story short, I've been without my laptop for a very long time now because the charger port on it broke away from the mother board. Urghh I know right!

So, finally I have my laptop back and have got the chapter out ASAP, and just for you guys it's a pretty long one! And to make it even better, it's the last for season one… You might say it's, explosive! I'm sorry but I had to

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading and please follow/favourite the story If you like it, next time we kick off in S2 and Chris will really start to affect the storyline + develop as a character. Cheers y'all!

The night had passed, I didn't sleep. Whenever I closed my eyes I saw him, what he'd become. A monster.

We were welcomed to a cooked breakfast in the morning, although me, Lori and Shane all struggled to show our excitement. I'm sure that all our heart rates rose a little when Rick called out a scratch that Lori had created on Shane's neck. However, we moved on.

Jenner took us into the central work room and showed us some recordings of someone who's turned. Although we had seen the grim reality of the world, and what it was now, it was still chilling to hear the Scientifics behind it- and even more to see them. But still, they- well he- knew nothing about it in all truth. No idea what it was. No idea how to stop it. And then there was the big red timer on the wall that Dale had spotted, which when it reaches zero, all we know is that "facility wide de-contamination will occur". Great.

Glenn, Shane, Rick and T-Dogg all went to check the basement generators; Jenner went to his office; Lori and Carol took their children back to the rooms, and Dale, Daryl and Jacqui all wondered back into the food hall. I, however stayed, watching the clock run down, wondering what really happens when it hits zero. I hate to say it, but I think I may know.

Twenty-five minutes passed by until the men returned, soon followed by the rest of the group. Jenner charged through us all, before stopping at the steps to the centre. He took one swig out of Daryl's wine bottle before handing it back to him and carrying on. Rick and Shane persistently questioned him about what happens when the timer runs out, before he finally broke.

"You know what this place is! We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out- EVER!" Immediately, I knew what happens in 28 minutes. I struggle to stay on my feet as I stagger backwards in disbelief. "Oh my god." I mutter, raising my hands to cover my agape mouth. Everyone turns to me, but I only look at Jenner. "You're telling me-?" He cuts me off before I can finish.

"For example, in the event of a catastrophic power failure, or a terrorist attack, HIT's are deployed to prevent any organism from getting out." I genuinely felt my heart skip a beat, and was forced to rest on a nearby computer panel. Everyone else seemed to exchange puzzled looks. None of them knew what a HIT was, but I did.

Rick approached me, "Chris," that calm yet so painful expression on his face, "what does he mean? What-What's he saying? What's HIT mean?" I held there, eyes closed, attempting to regain some form of composure. When I finally opened them to meet his gaze, I couldn't. "HIT's." God help us. "High impulse, thermo baric fuel-air weapons. They… They set the air on fire."

I couldn't force myself to look at anyone else. I just couldn't. Suddenly all attention was drawn to Jenner, "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief…" He took a moment, to look every single one of us in the eye. "To everything."

Several minutes passed after that. Everyone had their time to react, and all in such different ways. Both mothers cradled their children. Dale, Rick, T-Dogg and Glenn all froze in, what? Shock? Fear? Who knows. Daryl and Shane swung away at a door that could not be broken. Andrea and Jacqui seemed to almost accept this as our fate. And I just sat there. Unsure of what to say, or do. Unsure of everything I'd ever done in my life, if it was all to come to this.

Jenner tried to plead with us, that this was the right way. Painless, quick, easy. Maybe it was. My numb body was finally forced into movement when Daryl charged at the doctor with an axe in both hands. I wrapped both arms around his chest and held him back whilst the others confiscated the axe.

Edwin went on to tell us about Rick's drunken moments the night before, how he didn't know how long it'd be before we were all dead. In all fairness he's just voiced what we're all thinking. Relentlessly, Rick tried to defend his imaginary beliefs about hope and a safe haven, "maybe it won't be you, maybe not here but somebody! Somewhere!"

I was tired of listening to the non-stop battle between hope and no hope. If we were going to die in ten minutes, couldn't we just do it in peace? By the clicking sound of a loaded shotgun, I could assume my answer was no. I rushed to my feet, and instantly charged down at Shane. He barged past Rick and pointed the gun a Jenner's head, I tried grabbing him but Rick ushered me back with a hand gesture. "Shane, brother if you do this then-" Rick's pleas were met with a menacing shout, full of anger and rage. Thankfully, Shane started taking out his anger on the consoles, and not the only man that could save us. Together, we charged him down; Rick handled the shotgun whilst I tackled Shane to the floor. I pressed my arm across his chest, holding him in place as Rick asked him if he was done. "Yeah, guess we all are."

It was from that moment, the moment of my brother's loss of hope that I knew I needed to step up. Be someone that people could rely on. "I think you're lying," I stated, walking back towards the centre of the room. "As long as we're still breathing, as long as we're still willing, there's hope. You may not be willing anymore, but by hell I know I am, I'm not ready to give up, and neither are these lot." My pleas were met by several desperate stares around the room; all eyes were on me, until Lori spoke up. "You may want to stop, but please, let us keep trying for as long as we can."

I could only muster a thankful smile towards her for her support at this point, before returning my gaze to Jenner's. He looked to be deep in thought, desperately considering our cries. Finally, after a brief pause, he spoke, "I told you topside's locked down, I can't open those," he walked over to his station, using his key card to open the doors, everybody began charging out, but I froze for that moment. As I stared him in the eyes, I thought of Amy, an amazing human being literally torn open and killed as viciously as you could imagine, is that what I want?

"There's your chance, take it." He finally said, but it wasn't until Rick intervened that my body awoke. He stepped in front of me, blocking me from Jenner as if knowing he would snap me out of my thoughts. "We're grateful," he offered Jenner his hand, and the scientist took it immediately, "the day will come when you won't be." He warned Rick, before whispering something into Rick's ear. At that moment, I felt Glenn grab me from behind pulling me towards the door, "Hey, we got four minutes left, come on!" His voice broke into an embarrassingly high pitch at the end of his speech, but no one was in the mood to joke. No one had the time to either.

By the time we'd reached topside, we'd lost Jacqui and Andrea- they chose to stay, and well, who knows where the hell Dale is! He stayed behind to persuade Andrea, but I doubted he'd make it back in time. As we reached the final barrier between us and freedom, panic set in. Everyone was desperate to break out, axes were working away at the glass, chairs too, and Shane loaded his rounds into the window, to no avail. We were running desperately low on options.

"Rick," Carol shouted, "I've got something that might work," She added. Rather controversially, I think most of us disregarded her input, under the impression that it would be useless. However, I remained rather dubious as to what she had in mind. As she met Rick in the centre of the room, she held out her backpack that she'd been using to carry supplies. Yet, to everybody's surprise, she pulled out a grenade, supposedly from Rick's trousers! I never knew the deputies were packing so much heat!

"Everybody get back," Rick shouted, storming towards the window holding the grenade tightly in both hands. "Wait," I shouted back, running to keep pace with him, "I'm the quickest," I said, taking the grenade from him and pushing him towards the others.

'What the hell did I just do?' I thought as I finally approached the window. I positioned myself in a way that I was side-on to the window, prepared to run as soon as was needed. With a sigh of pure concern, I pulled the pin, dropped it, and ran like there was no tomorrow. The grenade went off after approximately 5 seconds, propelling me backwards with a powerful force. To mine, and everyone else's luck, the window had shattered into a million pieces by the time I looked back at it.

We charged through the broken window like a mad crowd, leading the pack, Rick, Daryl and Shane started to pick off walkers in the area, clearing the way to the cars. I followed behind Glenn, watching the women and kids closely, making sure they were safe. It was a good job I was as the men in front missed two walkers coming at us from the right hand side.

I was quick to raise my gun, aim, and fire. The first walker's head burst, spurting blood and chunks of brain everywhere, as the body crumpled to the floor. I raised my gun at the second fire, and aimed. Just as I was about to pull the trigger I heard Glenn shouting from the other side, and when twisting my head to look at him, I saw that he was wrestling a walker. Knowing that I needed to take care of mine before helping him, I turned to face my side, prepared to pull the trigger. By this point, the walker had gotten alarmingly close and pushed me to the ground, knocking my gun just out of reach. I pressed my arms against its chest and tucked my knee's in desperately avoiding the walker's jaw. I outstretched my weak hand towards the gun, inching closer and closer to it as the walker did so with my neck. Finally, I was able to grasp the gun as the walker broke free from my hold, and shot it dead just before it could bite me.

I could feel the faint splatters of chilling walker blood on my skin as I wriggled my body free. As I rose to my feet, I felt numb, the mixture of fear and adrenaline rushing through my bones. The faint noise of Glenn's shouts was the only thing that kept me moving. We'd become good friends over the past week or so, he's a good man, the world needs more people like him, and in that case, I wasn't about to let it lose one.

I charged at the walker on top of him, hurling it to the ground. As I rolled back onto my feet, I could only hear the eerie moans of the walker from over my shoulder until it was stopped by a loud bang, a gunshot. I turned my head, yet to my surprise, Glenn wasn't holding a gun. I swivelled my head in the other direction, and it was Shane. "Come on! Get your asses in the RV!" He ordered us.

We both threw our bodies into the RV, and Shane ran back to his Jeep. As we fell into the vehicle, it felt like an earthquake had begun. My ears rung as if a shotgun had gone off inside my head, forcing me to cup them. Not only that, but the ground shook violently as if it were about to crack open. That horrid sensation lasted for at least two minutes, until I could finally open my eyes.

When I stood to peer through the main window, the CDC was no longer a building; it was just nothing but a pile of rubble and dust. Then it sunk in, we'd lost Jacqui, Andrea and Dale. Or had we? Crouched beneath one of the sandbag covers lay Dale and Andrea, still alive, still breathing. I headed for the door the second I saw them, racing towards them, urging them away from the intoxicating smoke.

Once they were inside, all questions were raised, the main one being what do we do next?